TY - JOUR
T1 - Politicians as Party Hacks
T2 - Party Loyalty and Public Distrust in Politicians
AU - Bøggild, Troels
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Public distrust in politicians is widespread across Western democracies. This general pattern suggests that the problem not only reflects dissatisfaction with government performance and misconduct—the main focus in existing research—but also how democratic politics is generally conducted. This article identifies a mismatch between the representation facilitated by modern democracies and the representation wanted by a majority of citizens. Because political representation is organized around cohesive parties, several institutions incentivize politicians to exhibit loyalty to party policy over other considerations (partisan representation). Observational and experimental data from three countries demonstrate that citizens generally perceive politicians as conducting partisan representation, but they prefer that politicians follow their own conscience (trustee representation) and constituency (delegate representation) over party policy. This mismatch translates into distrust in politicians, even in countries with strong norms for party discipline and among politicians’ own party supporters. The findings have implications for understanding and counteracting political distrust.
AB - Public distrust in politicians is widespread across Western democracies. This general pattern suggests that the problem not only reflects dissatisfaction with government performance and misconduct—the main focus in existing research—but also how democratic politics is generally conducted. This article identifies a mismatch between the representation facilitated by modern democracies and the representation wanted by a majority of citizens. Because political representation is organized around cohesive parties, several institutions incentivize politicians to exhibit loyalty to party policy over other considerations (partisan representation). Observational and experimental data from three countries demonstrate that citizens generally perceive politicians as conducting partisan representation, but they prefer that politicians follow their own conscience (trustee representation) and constituency (delegate representation) over party policy. This mismatch translates into distrust in politicians, even in countries with strong norms for party discipline and among politicians’ own party supporters. The findings have implications for understanding and counteracting political distrust.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087640421&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/708681
DO - 10.1086/708681
M3 - Tidsskriftartikel
SN - 0022-3816
VL - 82
SP - 1517
EP - 1529
JO - The Journal of Politics
JF - The Journal of Politics
IS - 4
M1 - 1516–1529
ER -